St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-12
THE RED MEN SPEAK.

Protest of TIN, Leech Lake Indians
Against the treaty Drawn by the
Commission last Summer.
Two Leech Lake Indians, wearing clti-
zens' clothes. and unable to talk English,
who have been in the city for two days IN
terviewing Mayor Rice on the new treaty
which the commission negotiated last sum-
mer. Yesterday produced protest, copy
of which was sent through Senator SaDin 10
Washington, 1t is of interest as giving
the nature of the objections OH the parts OF
the braves. which have never been made
public before. The commission consisted OF
Messrs. Larabee, Wright and Bishop Whip
pie and according to the representations OF
Ieech Lake Indians now i'll the city they
Obtained eighty signatures to the treaty
The protest is signed by 377 Indians, fifteen
of whom are chefs. Following is a copy
of it:
THE PROTEST.
Ieech Lake. Mimi, Dec. 22 1886.-Hon.
Secretary of the interior, Washington. u. u,
Sir-We the undersigned, members of the
Leech Lake, Cass, Winnebagoshish and Otter
Tail Lake PLACER, Chippewas, having been
visited last summer by commission to make
an agreement in which we were asked to cede
lands now held by us and to remove to the
White Earth eSIrNdllOil, anu US Sdlu
sion received 1--WE are infOrmed) some eignty
signatures of members of our bands acQuieS-
cling n their proposal. we take these means
to inform you that as majority we did not
give our assent to any proposition MADE 10
US, and frankly informed the commission
that we should so inform our Great Father,
which we now do, objecting to their propos-
ais for the following principal reasons or
causes:
First-We object to the propositions for the
reason that they were not satisfactory i'll
many respects.
Second-ln the matter of the settlement of
claims we have against the Great Father, the
amount offered US was not equivalent TO the
amount we considered equitable and just.
Thfrd-No answer could be made to us in
reference to claims arising under treaty of
l847.
Fourth-We mentioned our internal affairs,
and which could be placed on some satisfac-
tory basis by the Great Father himself only,
the commissioners not appearing to have that
power.
Fifth-The manner in which the commits
sioners secured the signatures aforesaid was
not in accordance with the instructions given
by you in conducting said negotiations.
(Raying heard that all transactions should be
made in public, we must here mention the
oficiousness of the United States Indian
agent, the captain of Indian police of VIII tie
Earth and United States interpreter of Leech
Lake,
We could not place confidence in any COM
mission resorting to such questionable
methods. The Cass and Winnebegoshish
Chippewas were not called to meet at Leech
lake TO meet with other bands of their tribe
in general council, but were visited separ-
ately, subsequently to this commission hay
ing made their proposals to us, and were
informed that the Leech lake bands had
again acquiesced, and had ceded their lands
Some signatures were thus obtained. Prom
do lin io6iX nf rl1r
bands by attaches of the commission that in
the event of their cOnsenting TO agreement
and removal to White Earth, they would
RECEIVE SPECIAL BENEFITS
over and above those which would be re-
ceivad by the majority who should remove
to White Earth: these offers being made as
bride Savored of partially, which we cannot
countenance. We are informed by one of
our principal chiefs Of a remark made to him
by Bishop Whipple that the awards for dam
ages arising from the building OF dams, which
have injured our reservation, were contin-
gent on our signing the agreement and that
should receive no awards unless
we removed to White Earth. We were in
formed by the commission that we would be
abandoned by our Great Father unless we
agreed to their proposal; that their endeav
ors to consummate an agreement would be the
last that wOnld ever be made to secure one
with the Pillager Chippewas; that we could
not expect to sci a delegation to Washing
ton for that purpose, as it had been decided
we should not be allowed to do so. The COM
mlSSionerS said: If you do not agree to our
paper the bad white men, whom you are so
prone to listen to, will crowd YOU from your
reservation, you will see our women de-
bauched." In many instances individuals
were intimidated. We, therefore, could not
have confidence in a commission resorting to
such methods and threats to secure consent
to the propositions they made.
We nnfrian1lV 70 the Groat Fotbor
but we always remember and think of him as
our friend. We informed the commission
that we could make arrangements with the
Great Father only, giving our reasons there
for. For four years the Pillagers have had
frequont councils, hoping that a delegation
of their principal men would be
CALLED TO WASHINGTON
TO settle everything and make plans for the
future. Our Great Father has the power TO
call such delegation, and if he is in favor of
dong so settlement of all questions affect
ing the Peliagers can be made and be final.
We entertain no III will against any one but
we have decided to see our Great Father per-
sonally if he wishes to make any agreements
with us. We so informed the commission
when we mentioned all that had occurred
since the treaty of 1847 up to the time of
building of the dams. If delegation should
ever visit the Great Father, we hope, as we
are his friends, that he will not close his
doors against us, but will listen when we tell
him our wishes. We should then talk of all
matters and place them on some basis. 1t
would be desirable that the selection of such
delegation and interpreters would be left to
us, thereby securing unanimity and the
proper or recognized authority. ANY selec-
rion made otherwise would not be favorably
considered by US. We have confidence in the
Great Father and are aware he strives for the
best in promoting the interests of his red
children, but we must likewise endeavor to
assist ourselves in endeavoring to place our
affairs on such a footing as to insure perma-
nent security TO ourselves and children, and
to secure such advantages as a white man
would strive for if placed in similar circum-
stances.